


What If?

by noxiousSanctity



Series: What If? [1]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: And nobody knows what Dante feels, Anxiety, Basically recon at old Order hideout and they find something unexpected, Be very careful, F/F, God why did I do this, I lied, M/M, Nightmares, Sadistic religious bastards, Shitton of gore, So much angst, Someone kill me, Think like the holocaust, Tiresias my baby, When nero is pining as fuck, angst everywhere, except me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-03-24 18:50:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3780526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noxiousSanctity/pseuds/noxiousSanctity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the order had tried to make a secret weapon?<br/>what if they did the unthinkable?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> Again, I blame this shit on my twitter squad, @eli_cchi, @gootbuttheichou, @playingChello, and @erenings. 
> 
> Damn all of you for inspiring me to start another fucking series.

                It should have been an easy Job. But then again, all of the most life changing and important ones are never easy. IN fact, they’re the ones that almost kill you. Physically or mentally never mattered, but if you were totally honest with yourself, it destroyed you in a good way.

                Your name is Nero, and your life was different the minute Dante picked up the phone.

*~*~*

                You and Dante had gotten a call not too long ago that morning. Apparently at one of the old buildings the order used to work on their demonic angels, there had been sounds shifting and rolling around the darkness of that old, haunted place. The people around the reminder of how far they’d fallen shifted uncomfortably in their homes until one of them, a nice old man with crinkles from too much smiling, called the business thriving in the new economic change and explained the problem and quietly told them should they need a place to stay, they had a room at his home. Dante quickly declined for the both of you, saying it probably wouldn’t take that long if you left early on that morning. Fuck. You hate mornings. Not like it even mattered. What Dante said went as he said, usually. So you found it rather pointless to argue with him about it. When the phone call ended, you gave Dante a silent arch of your silver eyebrow, waiting if he had anything else to say. Your stomach did a strange kind of flip flop when his eyes slid down your figure and back up, facial expressions not changing at all as he quietly shook his head and relaxed into a quiet grin. “Just go get some sleep, kid.”

                Sleep. Oh.

                You kind of forgot that was a thing.

                Trudging over to the stairs, you made sure you took your time getting to your room, not really appreciating the idea of lying in bed for hours because you were terrified of going headfirst into slumber, not quite knowing just what might be there to greet you in the sick void that is your head. You shut your door with a soft click and shuck off your boots and your socks, feeling your eyes lid already. Fuck. Sometimes coffee just couldn’t keep you the awake you needed, and you had to succumb to dark terrors in your head for at the minimum 6 hours to get to the 50% area to function. Caffeine took care of the rest when it really depended on it. You used to have pills for that kind of thing, but after the whole order thing, you couldn’t get the prescription you wanted or the brand you needed. None of the others you tried were really strong enough to subdue your demon side and allow you to slumber peacefully and dreamlessly into the sheets. But that was all a part of the past now, you mumble to yourself as you slide to lay down on top of your sheets, watching the shoddy fan spin quickly around on your ceiling, as if it were racing to somewhere much more important than here.

                No, you decided, as you stopped fighting the weight of your eyelids. There was no place more important than at Dante’s side.

* * *

 

_Dante?_

_You look around, the world blurred with colours of blood and regret. Again you find yourself trapped somewhere when Dante needs you. Dante NEEDS you and you can’t help him. You slam your hands on the cloudy mistiness of the area around you, trying to see and trying to find-_

_“Nero!”_

_“DANTE!” Your heart leaps into your throat and rips at the roof of your mouth, trying to spill itself all over the floor in an attempt to just escape the confines you’ve shoved it deeply into within your chest and insecurities. You speed towards the sound, pulling out Red Queen and Blue Rose, eyes bright in anger. You were going to be useful to this man. This man, who showed you the real truth of the world shuddering and creaking under the weight of expectations it was never meant to fulfill. He also showed you that it was people like him that kept that structure up and balanced, fulfilling and strong._

_Nobody could afford to do that alone._

_Nobody could survive doing that alone._

_The thought spurs you into action in a speed you would have admired if a shout rippled across the fabric of that false reality hadn’t reminded you exactly why you were running so hard, panting and sweating and trying desperately to save the person you lo-_

_No. Not that word._

_Finally it begins to clear, and you rush out beneath stars held up by strings and a moon dull and sad in its emptiness of light. Spinning around, you finally stop when you see Dante’s back facing towards you and his face pointed out to stare at the mist. “Dante.” You breathed, feeling your face crumble in relief that he was alright. “Are you okay? I heard you yelling. You kill whatever it was that was attacking you?”_

_You received no reply, and ice gripped your heart tighter than when he had left._

_“Dante?”_

_Slowly walking towards the elder demon hunter, You felt the crunch of something below your feet, but dared not look at what it was this time. Instead you kept walking until your arm could reach out with a shaking and trembling hand to rest it on a leather covered shoulder. “…Dante?...”_

_Suddenly he turned, and you couldn’t decide what made you throw up. The hole in the son of Sparda’s chest, protruding black substance and still dripping slightly, the cuts and lacerations in strong, calloused skin, or the look of sad disappointment and betrayal. His mouth opened, and you felt something you never wanted to feel again bubble up inside your body and grip your heart._

_“You didn’t help me, Nero. You can’t help anyone.”_

_He leaned towards you as your mouth involuntarily opened to let loose a guttural scream that would be dwarfed by the soft whisper that came before the mist._

_“You will be the death of me.”_

* * *

 

You jolted upwards on the bed, eyes red and nose slightly running. Your bringer was tightly grasping your sheets, several of your claws digging deeply in the mattress already riddled with holes from previous problems. You shakily draw into yourself, shuddering breaths wracking through your frame as you try to get yourself together. You wish that Dante would come in here anytime now, running his hand through your hair and tell you what happened was a lie, and he was fine.

                Except he won’t.

                Because you’d rather die every night than tell him. Rather face an army of the worst demon spawn of hell and gouge out your own eyeballs that show that to him. Show weakness. Dante is a man of strength. He wouldn’t want something like that weighing him down. You want to keep running with him, not have him slow down with you and walk with a disappointed sigh.

                You look at your clock. 2 AM. You went to bed about two hours ago.

                Sighing, you get up, walking down to the kitchen to make yourself a cup of coffee. That’s all the sleep you were going to get for the week, might as well get rid of the stickiness of being a scared mouth breather.

* * *

                The ride there is quiet. You know that Dante’s still only halfway awake as they drive down the endless stretch of road it takes to get there. He says that you should probably get some more sleep, but you simply retort with ‘look who’s talking’. It goes silent after that, and you sip at your coffee once again. It’s your fourth cup, and now you’re starting to feel awake. Thank god for that. Your senses will need to be alert and sharp when you get there so you can kick ass and go home.

                You have a bad feeling about this.

                Something just feels off about the whole thing. Like they missed something or what if The Order is trying to rise again? How would they even stop them again this time? You shake your head. That won’t happen. Dante made sure it wouldn’t. It’s just fine now.

                Then why won’t this feeling go away?

                “We’re here.” You hear Dante huff, and your eyes slid open to take in the glove compartment covered in old pizza gross shit (you’re gonna have to clean out the car again, aren’t you) and let your eyes raise higher to the white walled castle now covered in graffiti and art and some other things you are too tired to deal with. You both slide out and check to make sure that your weapons are locked and loaded before slowly checking out the frontal area. It seemed ransacked as far as you could tell, but the both of you still took careful steps about traps and such. You push ahead of him, trying to prove that you aren’t a liability to yourself. “It looks fine, we should be able to go in.”

                “Easy, kid.” You hear a familiar voice chuckle before a warm hand was in your hair again and _yes this is what you need_. “Don’t get too ahead of yourself. Let’s just check out the perimeter before going any deeper.” You nod and he grins. “You take left, I’ll go right.”

                Of course he picks right you think. It’s the only way he really knows how to turn in a car. A smile at the thought threatens to lift your lips, and you push it aside, focusing on your mission. The halls seem as creepy as they ever have, but there’s nothing all that new or fresh about it. Just dumb old shit from dumb old assholes that wanted to receive immortality but never could because they weren’t good enough.

                “Nero.” Your phone goes off, and you click your Bluetooth. Tech is a gift these days. “Come to the east wing. There’s some shit here you gotta see.”

                “Alright. On my way.” You click it and then proceed to go the exact opposite way you came, striding across the entrance and through the west wing, easily picking up Dante’s trail when the flap of a coat was seen. “Dante, what is it? Any mon-“

                You stop dead when you see the bodies. Not human, not Devil. Fuck, it’s all of those hybrids. Some of them must have escaped the battling zone and tried to flee into here or something to hide out. You close your eyes and put your fist to your mouth, taking several deep breaths until you can finally say, “Gross.”

                Dante looks rather ill himself. “I’m with you kid. This is some seriously disgusting shit.” He works his way over the bodies, giving up after the first few steps and just walking over the corpses. You steel yourself and do the same. These were all people once. Real people. Stupid, but real and thinking. You ponder that while walking over one’s face and hearing the nose crack while surveying the room. “What do you think happened here?” He asks, and all you really can bring yourself to do is just… Shrug. He continues to talk, as he usually does when the silence bothers him. “I would say a mass suicide, but usually those are more ritualistic, or have some sort of runes and sacred shit-“ He stops, and so do you. He’s holding a vanilla folder with your name and photo on it.

                You take it gently and scoff. “Well, it’s probably because of my arm.” He nods, but when he picks up a second one with his own name and rugged picture on it, you feel something tighten in your chest. “Is this a trap?”

                He shakes his head and opens it up. “No. See, this was during the small little mini-war we were involved in.” His eyes quickly scan over the paper and his eyebrows raise. “This has to do with the two of us somehow, but I’m not quite sure. Scientific shit has never been my strong suit.”

                You look over it and your blood goes cold. You recognize those paper patterns and those words. “This isn’t just some scientific shit, Dante. This is genetic coding.” When he gives you the silent look of both _what the actual fuck_ and to continue, you look down at your own folder and open it. Immediately, you read down the page, the information not as lost on you as it is on Dante. “You see, when I had just received the arm after what happened with Kyrie, I was sort of… taken in and looked at. They took a little bit of my blood from wherever they could and began writing down anything they could find. Mainly, my genetic sequence.” You tapped the lightly yellowed page, indicating its age. “They took a bunch of tests. Spit, tears, sweat, piss…” You trail off, deciding not to finish that. “But anyway, if there’s one of you, then they must have had something that held your genetic code.” You look at him. “There could be lots of reasons for that.”

                “There are tufts of my hair in here.” He pointed out, and you looked down. Oh yeah. “Maybe that’s what they used?” You shrugged. “The real question is why they would need it. Unless they were trying to combine our genetic coding to make a stronger form of demonic angel assholes, then by the looks of things, we’re probably not gonna have to worry about that shit.” Dante laughed slightly and your heart did a stupid little thing. No. Shut up emotions. You open your mouth but it immediately clicks shut when you hear something. Dante stops too when you tense, and by the sudden look in his eyes, you know that he can here that too.

“What was that?

“It sounded like-“

“Crying?”

“Sniffling.”

He motions at the area it came from and you nod, pulling out Red Queen. You thought being prepared was better than dying. Both of your footsteps were soft, almost undetectably so when you rounded a corner and looked around. The sound of feet was not lost on you, and you raced forward before you could even begin to stop yourself. Dante’s shouts of stopping were drowned out by the blood rushing through our ears. Yes, this is where you needed to be. Where you didn’t have to think and only had to kill-

                You stop as your gun aimed right at a forehead. A forehead? Your eyes widen to see that what you thought was a monster was actually a little boy, dressed in old hospital gowns and trembling slightly with hands covering his face. His body was covered in bruises and scrapes, and the soft sound of hiccuped silent sobs was the only things echoing through the empty hallways of a now threat-less building. You pull your gun back, and the sound seems to relax him, if only slightly so. Shit. A kid. How do you even begin to handle this?

                “Hey…” You start, coughing to get rid of that hard edge of your voice from drinking too much coffee. The boy jolts and you try again. “Hey hey, I’m real sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you at all.” You reach out your hand and touch his own covering his eyes. “Can you look at me? I’m only here to help you now. You’re safe now.”

                His trembling seems to stop, and you watch as scraped hands fall from a pale, softly rounded face to reveal literally millions of freckles gracing this kid’s face like cheetah spots. It gave him that slight adorableness, enhanced by a cute little nose and a slightly bruised lower lip, like someone had punched him. You feel something twist in you as you take in the clouded state of his eyes, which flickered around slightly. Not born with it then. The kid had lost it.

                You didn’t realize that you were still silent until the kid starts to quake again, and you jolt slightly, gently reaching out to take a small hand and wait until the kid made the first move to gently pull him into your arms for a gentle hug. “There there…” you heard yourself saying softly. He definitely could hear if he understood what you were asking previously. “Everything’s gonna be okay.” He clung to you like you were the last lifeline in the world, still no sound other than sad breathing and little hiccups of silent tears stretching between you two. You rubbed his back and gently rocked your body to a rhythm that made the child slowly begin to relax and finally fall asleep.

                Hunh. You were a natural at this. Weird.

                You sigh and make sure you have him in your arms correctly when you see Dante run towards you. You make a ‘shhhh’ signal with the hand that isn’t holding the kid to rest on your shoulder. Dante looks confused as all hell, and to be honest, you couldn’t blame him. You had run off like a madman with sword drawn out and ready for blood, and then you have a kid in your arm and sleeping in the crook of your neck and you’re telling him to be quiet. This was definitely something different.

                “What the hell?” He hisses at you, and you do a half shrug to the best of your ability. “Where did you even go? You fucking disappeared, you idiot!” The worry in his voice made you freeze for a little bit, but as soon as it was there, it was gone. You found that you missed it. “I’m glad you didn’t actually kill the kid, Nero, but what the hell are we going to do with him? We don’t know his name, where he lives… Hell, we barely even know why he’s in here at all!”

                You roll your eyes and sigh. “Don’t overreact. He’s just a kid. And besides, when we take him down to the village that called us, we can ask. Just don’t wake him up or anything.” When Dante gave no counter argument, you bite back the overwhelming urge to just smooch him on the cheek. Barely. “Now let’s go.”

                When the two of you got there (you laying in the back holding the kid. You don’t know how children work!) You asked around if anyone knew who the kid was or who his family was or even just recognized him. The lack of positive answers was almost damn right depressing. You were exhausted by the end of the practical search of the village, and the only answer he really remembered was, “I don’t know, but he looks a little like you two!”

                Like you and Dante. Stupid. Still, when Dante suggested that the two of you head out tomorrow and take up the old man’s offer of rooms that night, you found you couldn’t bring yourself to try and argue. It was around 11 when you two got in there, and after he gave you food you both tumbled into the guest beds given to you. You had put the kid on the other side of your bed, so that maybe he could sleep. Maybe you’ll have good dreams too this time.

                Your eyes were about to close when something papped you on the face. You blinked and opened your eyes to see white fluffy hair and clouded eyes with freckled cheeks beaming at you. When you groggily tried to sit up, he simply snuggled into your side and buried his face in your chest. You felt your brow furrow, but before you could even begin to contemplate what happened, your eyes were lidding and were soon shut at the feeling of soft breathing and tiny hands holding yours in a near death grip.

                You had no nightmares that night.


	2. Wait, what's your name?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> God, this kid is the actual cutest. Literally he's just a fucking rainbow. God bless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://askdavechick.tumblr.com/post/18493837851 THe beginning snuggle part is based off of this  
> god cute nerds

Dante Pov

                You wake up to the blur of sunlight passing through translucent dusty shades you don’t remember buying. Shifting a little to the left, you suddenly remember that this isn’t your home and you aren’t sleeping in your bed. Lifting yourself up onto your arms, you twist and land your feet on the floor, standing up. You’re naked and in someone else’s house. You find giving a fuck is way too much effort so you just pull on some pants and then your trousers, riding low on your hips. You wonder if the old man’s got any food in there. Nero’s a good cook, maybe he could fix up something.

                You stand up straight as the name zips through your mind. _Nero._ Memories of him chasing a helpless child through winding hallways and over mountains of corpses only to go all mama bear on the kid made your head reel backwards like some shitty movie theater moment. Where the hell did that even come from? What was up with the kid? It’s not like he had a personal vendetta against the little tyke, did he?

                Speaking of, you decided to probably go check on where the kid was laying. Best to make sure nothing happened in the night to him or to Nero. Finding anything or anyone in a place like that was sure to be bad news for anyone or anything it deemed not useful. You shuffled into the small room and found that the kid was nowhere to be seen. Fuck. Careful not to sprint out of the room like a madman, you made sure that you were at a decent walking pace; ebony and ivory loose in his hands but ready to be fired as he creaked open the door.

                You suddenly stop, disbelief swirling through your eyes as you saw Nero curled around the curly haired kid like a nest, and the small little one clutching onto Nero’s hand and vest tightly as if it were the only anchor left that he had. You tilted your head, realizing with a furrow of your brow that this was the first time you ever really saw Nero asleep. Maybe he just was a quiet sleeper? You struggled not to identify the thing simmering in your chest as you casually watch them move, kind of smirking at how sweet and innocent the two of them looked. Nero’s silky silver hair swirling on the pillow contrasted the pure white of full curly hair that even covered the kid’s face. Both of them were breathing in and out around the same intervals, and Nero clutched to the little child like he was a teddy bear he’d had since he himself was a kid. They looked awfully cute together, and you found yourself taking a quick photo of the two of them and locking it so it wouldn’t be deleted without your passcode. Weird.

                When the shutter sound went off with the camera, Nero blearily began to blink and looked up at you. When he recognized you, his face went such a brilliant shade of red you couldn’t tell if there was any blood left in his body that wasn’t exploding onto his cheeks. “D-Dante.” He choked out, and the little tyke begins to shift in his arms and cuddled into him for more warmth, a soft disgruntled sound leaving him. Automatically, Nero relaxed for the kid, and you couldn’t help but prod slightly with a smirk. “So. He’s really taken a liking to you, huh?”

                Nero flushed and began to try and stutter something out like an excuse, but it only made his situation worse as he ended that train of thought with a “Shut up.” You look down at him and that only made your grin wider. “Cute. Now come on, we gotta get up and head out to go home.” Nero looked sad, and something twisted in your gut. “We’re bringing the kid. We gotta keep an eye on him.” Whoop there it is he’s surprised and bewildered and fuck you don’t know why but it makes you feel warm inside. “Now let’s get going. I want breakfast.”

                He nods and begins to nudge the kid (You don’t know his name. So right now it’s kid) and wake him up. He releases Nero’s shirt and beams at him. Nero almost smiles back, but instead he takes the little tyke’s hands and presses them to his own face, smiling into his palms with a little huff of amusement. With a shock, you realize that Nero knew the kid was blind. How the hell? You shake it off. Maybe bringing the kid would be a bad idea.

                But as you were about to voice it, Nero steps next to you with a small little smile on his face, and you find yourself unable to say anything about it. “Alright.” He sounds more awake, too. More than he had in a while. “Let’s get going.” The kid’s holding onto Nero’s jacket and as if he could see you, he beamed up at you with freckled and rosy cheeks and a little hiccupped giggle, you assumed.

                Fuck. Not only was Nero attached, you might be too.

 

                You’ve never seen Nero so calm and soothed until he was sitting in the back with the kid, gently taking to him and playing with his hands. You take occasional glances back there and watch as dandelion head back there makes happy silent noises, sharp intakes of breath that seem to be his way of laughing. Mute? Maybe. You feel something shift in you, and you kind of pity the little kid. Why was he even in there in the first place? Was he abandoned? Did nobody want him? You clench the steering wheel just a little bit tighter, eyes narrowing onto the road. It wouldn’t have been the first time you’ve found an abandoned kid on a particularly disgusting mission, but this kid was only trying to leave his abusive family and get out to the freedom that he’d been chasing his whole life. You had shrugged and gave him a ticket to some town he wanted to go to, and that was the most brilliant smile and warmest hug you’ve had in years. Maybe kids aren’t as bad as you give them shit for. You can’t keep thinking _every_ kid you’ll meet is like that. Nero was, but he was an exception.

                This kid… This kid is something completely different.

                You three stop at a quick restaurant, and you carefully observe the way the Kid runs his hands over the menu, trying to figure it out, and you can’t take not knowing anymore. “I’m assuming he’s blind.” And when Nero looks up at you, you know you’re right. “Can I take a look at his eyes?”

                “He wasn’t born like this.” Was Nero’s quiet reply to a question you hadn’t realized you’d asked, but now that you know you feel something clench in you. You reach out and push curly bangs away from his face to see clouded blue whites similar to yours and Nero’s. “It doesn’t look like physical change, more like he looked into the sun too long?” Nero sounded soft, and you nearly jolt when the kid fucking grabs your hand and smushes his face into it. You can feel his soft little breath into your hand, and you can tell he’s laughing. “Any throat issues? He’s not spoken a word. We don’t even know his name.”

                Again, Nero shrugged as the kid blew a raspberry into your hand, making you bite back a short laugh. “Hm. Well, we’ll figure it out later.” You pull away and an innocent smile is on the little kid’s face. “Damn. He’s like a perfect little angel.” Nero chuckled as they ordered a kids meal for the tyke, a sandwich for Nero and a strawberry parfait for you. Fuck yeah. Strawberries.

                “You two make such cute parents!” The waitress cooed and she waved as she left. You couldn’t tell which one was redder, Nero or the imaginary strawberries in your head. You look over at him and watch his mouth open and shut like a fish out of water, flopping around looking for familiar water.

                “Hey. Don’t take such offense to it, Nero.” You stretch back, your arms resting under your head in a really soft cushion. You don’t see Nero look down and away from you, or biting his lip. “It was an honest mistake. Promise.” Quicker than thought, the food came to the table and Nero quickly began eating, shoveling food into his mouth so maybe he wouldn’t have to answer to whatever unsaid question it was this time. You eat your parfait, and when you look up for a third bite, you see the kid watching you silently. Well, his head was towards you and his head was tilted. His food was sort of gone, and he was still eating, but he probably could smell the strawberries, you realize.

                You look down at your parfait and then at the kid, and hesitantly reach your spoon out to touch his freckled cheek. “Open up, kid.” He does, and you let him have a spoonful. He beams at you and you feel your brow furrow even more as you look pointedly down at your own food again, ignoring Nero’s burning questioning gaze.

                You don’t want to think about it either.

 

                The last thing you wanted to deal with as you got home was Lady and Trish making out on the couch. It was quite a ride that emotionally drained you like nobody’s business, and you sighed as the door opened. Nero was holding the kid and letting him rest on the younger demon hunter’s shoulder, sleeping oh so softly. What you didn’t want to think about was how Lady looked over and with wide eyes said, “Holy- Trish. Trish stop macking on my neck.” Trish let out a noise of complaint but stopped when she saw the little one resting on Nero’s shoulder. “Is that a kid, Dante?” Trish’s voice was low, and you rolled your eyes. “It’s actually a bear, thanks.”

                You were shoved out of the way for your pun, and you rolled your eyes as the two girls of the office walked close to Nero, examining the kid in his arms. “Holy shit, it IS a kid!” Trish looked at Nero and gave him a look, which went ignored by him. “Nero. Dante. It was a simple job. Having a kid wasn’t a part of it I listed in the description.”

                What is with people today? “It’s not ours!” You grumble, running a hand over your face and managing a small little smirk. “We don’t know whose kid it is. We don’t know anything about him. We just found him in the institute.” You hear Trish take in a deep breath as Nero gently cradles the kid whilst Lady gently pushes curly hair away. “And when did everyone here become motherly?”

                “Shut up, Dante. He’s cute as hell.” Was the reply Lady shot at you, and Trish shrugged. Lady took the kid and sighed. “He’s awfully cute.” You noticed Trish was still slightly stiff at the mentioning of the place’s name. “Is something wrong, Trish?”

                Trish grunts and shrugs. “Well, I didn’t realize it was the institute, only an old order building. But they were up to some nasty stuff in there, Dante. Real nasty stuff.” You nod at her to continue and she does. “They were interested in making these incredibly large and huge super soldiers, bigger than the original types. More like how Credo was.” Nero nodded, a grim look in his eyes. “So, I think that they had several folders on the stuff.”

                You remembered the folders you two found and pulled them out of your Jacket. “Nero said it had something to do with genetic coding, and we found some of the stuff in there with our names and photos on it.” You hand them over to Trish and she nods. “I don’t really know how the kid fits in.” Nero fidgets and watches the kid wake up, and Lady makes a noise of surprise. “Oh. His eyes…”

                “Blind.” Nero looks at the kid like he’s close enough to him to be family, and something shoots through you again. You’d rather not think about it, but the thought _why doesn’t he look at me like that?_ pangs in you and you huff at the kid, who paps at Lady. She puts him down and he runs over to Nero, gripping his leg. Again. How does he know where to run? Apparently you’re not the only one to wonder about this, because Trish voices the question, albeit with a lot less grace than you had planned to pose the question with. “What the fuck? How the hell does it know where you are? Does he smell you?”

                Nero sighed and the kid gripped tighter. “I don’t know. He just does, and I don’t understand it at all. Maybe he does smell me? I haven’t showered yet today.” And with that, Trish practically shoves Nero towards the showers. “But Dante goes first.” She calls, and you chuckle and roll your eyes. “Because he smells like shit more. “

                You roll your eyes again and quickly go up the stairs, stripping yourself of your clothes and quickly stepped into cold water, letting it run through your hair and over your eyelids. It’s dark under your eyelids, you dully note. You would barely be able to make out anything from anything if you were out there by yourself. Well, you correct, as you wash your hair. If you had hearing, you’d be able to do it. But the kid moved so surely, it can’t be all that he hears. There has to be another factor.

                You’re cleaning your body when you hear a choked noise behind you. You look over your shoulder and through the steamy glass of the shower you barely see Nero gaping at you again like he was when you guys were in the restaurant. And not only that, but the blush is just as fierce.

                Something sadistic pops into your brain, and with a well suppressed grin, you poke you head out of the glass door. “Hey. Is there something you need? I mean, I understand the need to shower, Kid, but can it wait until I’m done?” Your grin finally appears and you say toothily, “Unless you want to join me.”

                You don’t know what prompted you to do that, but it was all worth it when Nero hissed at you and spat out a high string of colourful nouns and nailing the ending with a perfectly executed oxymoron. You’re surprised the kid knew that many words. You watch his cheeks and let your eyes slide over him again for the third time in the last two days. You never usually look this many times in a week, but you can’t help yourself. He’s filled out. You’re looking at his legs when his voice slowly comes back into focus.

“…te….Dante….DANTE!”

                Your head snaps up almost immediately, and you two share eye contact. Judging by the look in his eyes, he saw you staring. Fuck. “Hey hey, kid.” You immediately backpedal, pulling back into the shower slightly. “What? I’m just trying to tease you, kid.”

                Something in his face changes, but he turns around too fast for you to make head or tails of it. “I was gonna say you have to make sure that your door is locked more often. I’m sure you don’t want Trish coming in again like she did last time, remember?” The memory of chainsaws and juggalos did not need to pop up right there, but it did and you got the message. “Gotcha.”

                He left quickly, and you sighed, finishing your shower and stepping out. You grabbed fresh clothing and pulled them on, not bothering to dry your hair as you walked back downstairs and saw the kid sitting by himself as Trish and Lady were trying to make something in the kitchen. Just deciding to, you just sit next to the kid, whose head snaps up and twists into your direction with a surprised look.

                “Hey.” No response other than a small little wave, and you try again. “Can you talk?” He nods, and your eyebrows shoot up. “Then why don’t you talk?” He shrugs, and you run a hand over your face. You hear the shower going and you try to think of how Nero was talking to him. Hands on his face. You gently take his hands (calloused? For a Seven year old?) and press them to your face, smiling into them. You see his eyes flicker a little bit as he tries to process and _oh_ suddenly he’s beaming right back at you and you chuckle into his hands. “You’re not such a bad kid. I wish I knew what your name was.”

                “Tiresias.”

                You suddenly freeze at the unfamiliar voice, and you look down at the kid. “I-What? Can you…Uh… Can you say that again?”

                He pulls his hand away and points at himself and then there it is again. “Tiresias.” And his voice matches his face. Sweet and innocent. Like wind chimes. Holy shit. You lean forward slightly and gently thumb over his cheeks, and it’s an actual giggle this time and it does sound like chimes. Holy shit is all you can think as you call out for Trish and Lady, watching them rush through and you point to the kid-Tiresias. “He can talk. Tiresias is his name.”

                They look at you as if you’re crazy, and you look down at the kid, who’ still got a hand on your face. “Can you tell them your name?” You ask softly, and he giggles at you again, saying his name once more. The reactions of the two women are priceless. Lady just looked awestruck and Trish blinked several times, rubbing her eyes and cleaning her ears out. “Holy shit.” She manages. “You actually spoke. Why didn’t you speak before?”

                Just as Tiresias was about to answer, Nero walked down the stairs and the boy slipped off the couch and ran over to Nero, hugging his leg tightly. Nero blinked and picked the kid up, looking at the awestruck others in confusion. “Uh. Did I miss something or is it just shellshock Sunday?”

                “His name is Tiresias.” Trish manages to say, and Lady just nods in agreement. You push your hands in your pockets as Nero looks at all of you. “How did you guys figure it out?” He looked at Tiresias, and the boy papped his face, finally saying something new. “Nero!”

                When Nero almost dropped the kid in shock, you decided that that was enough for one day.

                You gently take the kid from him (who was latched onto him like a koala in a mulberry tree) and hand him to Lady, who gently holds the kid. “Okay. So. You two have to watch him, Nero and I seriously need to do go research on this, go back to the institute or whatever and make sure that we know everything there is to know about this kid, this place, and why the hell he rarely talks.” Lady frowns at you and remarks something about language, but you hardly find yourself to care. This is confusing as hell, and you’ve never had that clean of a vocabulary in the first place.

                Nero looks ready to protest, but when you raise an eyebrow at him, his mouth clamped shut. You knew he was just as curious, but he wanted to bring the kid along. That was obvious, though the reasons were completely out of your reach. “We won’t be gone long, Nero. Don’t give that look.” At that, he bit his lip and looked away.

                You had the keys and began to revv up the car when Tiresias beckoned at Nero and when the young demon hunger went close, the kid hugged his face and giggled into his hair. Lady sighed and pulled the kid off. “That’s gonna be interesting to deal with. I hope he doesn’t cry without you.” Nero looked a little bit bashful at the fact and quickly left to get into the car with you. You give him a once over and raise an eyebrow, silently asking if he was okay. When he waves you off with a dismissive ‘I’m fine’, you shrug and turn on the radio, pulling out and driving quickly towards the institute again, watching the two girls and the suddenly sad looking kid wave to you from the front of the store.

                You don’t know why, but you have a bad feeling about this.


	3. When the other shoe drops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING SHITLOAD OF GORE FUCK ME oh god it had to be written.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why did I do this to myself

The ride is quiet.

Neither man knows what to say to the other, nor know if they should even say anything to begin with. Nero is staring outside longingly, watching the trees and the grass go by in a whirlwind of melancholy fondness. Neither knows what has changed between them, but it is definitely something big. Even though the presence was small, it was missed. They weren’t even halfway there yet and it seemed like the road was longer than it ever had been before. Rain was pouring down around them, and it almost felt like someone was about to die.

But, as both of them knew, it was never that easy.

Again, when they got there, the man offered their home to them. Both raised their hands in protest, but when the elder insisted, they couldn’t say no. But when the darkly tanned man’s eyes crinkled slightly and apologetically said there was only one room left, both men looked at each other with raised eyebrows, but still took the room. Dante watched Nero just as subtly as Nero watched Dante, looking for any sign of ‘ _no this is a bad idea_ ’. But none was there. They simply just went into the room and lay down to sleep, though it evaded them just as much as their sense of calm.

Nero broke the silence, unable to stand it behind the pouring of the rain. “Dante?”

The voice that replied gave him goosebumps from how gravelly and disshelved it was, like he just woke up. Since Nero was on his side facing strictly _away_ from his longtime desire. “Whazzit, kid? Everything alright over there?”

Nero couldn’t stop a chuckle from leaving his mouth, and he felt himself visibly relax with the humour in the older hunter’s tone. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I was just wondering something about the kid-“He caught himself, cheeks burning a low tinge of red. “Tiresias. It’s still a strange name for me to remember. I was wondering if you maybe had some context for the name. I don’t doubt that the name wasn’t a coincidence. Is it a particular demon or something? Was there one named such?”

A groan was heard, and the bed shifted as Dante sat up, hair floofed around his face like an abrasive cat. He looked at Nero’s shoulder and began to pull off his jacket and shoes, revealing strong arms and calloused hands when the leather left his body to rest on a chair with the rest of his belongings. “Dunno much about Tiresias the kid, but I do know that there was once a man named Tiresias. Don’t know if he was a demon or not, but he was famously afflicted with tragedies and seeing the future.” He scratched the bristles on his chin and took off his shirt, finally getting the looks of a wide eyed Nero resting right beside him. He rolled his eyes and snorted, watching Nero flush gently as he said, “Don’t get your panties in a bunch, we’re both guys. And I wouldn’t pull any moves on you, anyway.” _At least, not without interest shown_ , his brain helpfully chimed, and he shoved that into a very dark corner of his mind, hoping that _no_ , that would not pop up again whilst he was sleeping (IN THE SAME BED) with Nero. Not now boner, perhaps another time. When he was in the shower. Alone.

“He was a prophet of ancient Greek times, yes. But he was also one of the loyal followers of Sparda. Not like those fanatics of the Order, hell no. Sparda would often go to him for consultations, if you will. Tiresias could see outcomes of the worst kind, and could also see what could happen and how it was possible to be fixed. So yeah, dad was often keeping this dude close.

“When Mundus had originally heard about this guy, he knew that if he were to do this correctly, he needed Tiresias out of the way. So, he crated two snakes and when Tiresias had decided to stop them in their path of fucking-“The cough from the teenager made him roll his eyes. “Shut up. Mating, whatever. He used the powers of the snake to turn him into a woman, so Sparda couldn’t recognize him. Keep in mind that this was the time where women weren’t as revered, especially human women. So basically Sparda had a blind spot, and Mundus was using it to his advantage.” He shrugged and laid down, now just in his boxers. “That’s all I really know about it.”

Nero watched the hunter with a look of curiousity, and Dante scoffed and rolled over so they were facing each other, not noticing how Nero’s breath seemed to still around him. “Aren’t you gonna take your shit off?” He managed to say casually to the other, hoping that the teen wouldn’t notice ill intentions. Not that he had any or anything. Nope. “It’s humid and unnecessarily sweaty as balls. Don’t ruin your clothes before we get back.”

That seemed to get Nero, and soon they were both laying there, feeling the rain around them cascade into holes in the streets and dirty rooftops. Dante shook his head and watched Nero’s back twitch and shift powerfully. It was magnificent. He tried to keep his hands to himself, but he couldn’t stop himself from gently tracing over the upper part of the spine, marveling at how the entire body seemed to move and shudder until he saw very annoyed eyes staring at his own. “What?”

“Don’t…” Nero trailed off before remembering what he was about to say. Why was this kid so spaced out? “Don’t do that. My back is sensitive.” Dante could only hope.

“I bet.” The look on the teen’s face was almost too precious and the older of the two barely managed to keep himself from running hands through snowy hair resembling his own. “I’m joking kid, let’s just sleep, okay?” When he heard a quiet response, he let himself drift off gently, arm still outstretched slightly towards a tantalizing back and all too wanted warmth.

* * *

 

Nero woke up, breathing hard and gun up towards the wall. The barrel was shaking due to the aftermath of being unable to save Dante (again) and then the hunter coming after him. When he saw only wall, he felt shame wash over him. Another nightmare. He growled and let his arm drop. When it did, a loud snore echoed through the room, causing him to jump and whirl the gun around with a click.

The elder was on his side, facing towards the small dent where Nero had been laying. His chest rose easily and fell just as much, keeping time with his heartbeat. The heartbeat that kept him alive. Nero dropped down his gun and put it on the side table, laying down again for a while, staring up at the ceiling and then back at Dante, whose hand was outstretched towards him. He could almost see it, the teasing call for the younger hunter to come to bed, an amused yet hungry smirk on his face.

He shook his head as images of warm hands on his flesh began to arise. No. Not here. But… He looked over again towards the arm pointed towards him. It couldn’t…. _hurt,_ right? Just once?

He watched Dante for a couple more minutes before finally steeling his resolve and reaching out to the impossible hand, gently wrapping his own around it and intertwining their fingers. The blood in his ears roared just as loud as the rain outside, and with a shuddering breath and lidded eyes, he scooted a little bit closer, tugging the hand to just barely brush against his cheek. It twitched a little bit, and Nero almost flung himself back before the hand tightened minuscule enough that Nero barely felt it. But he did, and that’s what kept his grip there.

He remembered his nice dream, and finally tumbled deep into it, reciprocating the love he wanted deeply but knew he could never have.

* * *

 

That morning was definitely a weird one.

Dante had woken up to his hand cupped in Nero’s, gently brushing against the smoothness of his cheek and soft white lashes. He had stiffened, looking at the resting face in surprise. Shit. He must have grabbed Nero’s hand whilst he was asleep. Shit, the kid would lose his mind. He gently pulled himself away from the warm body and slid out to take a shower, ignoring the wank he had promised himself in order not to raise suspicions. By the time he came out fully dressed, so was Nero. He was zipping up his jacket thing (two zippers? Dante would never get that) and looked over at the elder coolly. “Are you ready? We should head out now.” Nodding dumbly, the two of them made quick work of leaving, declining breakfast. Neither one of them were really quite hungry due to nerves running far higher than they had any real right to be.

The second time they entered the Institute, Dante finally took a real look around the opening. The ceiling was cracked and had holes; it smelled like bloodrust and death. Long vines climbed down the columns that were cracked and broken like snakes, desperate to find the ground beneath them. How the hell the kid-Tiresias survived in here, he’d probably never know.

He hadn’t realized he said that aloud until Nero gave him a look. “Tiresias probably had just wandered in as soon as we got here. It’s probably just a coincidence.”

Dante laughed, running a hand through his hair. “You really think a coincidence is why we’re here, Nero? Something has to do with that kid. I’m pretty sure that the people around here keep away for a reason, and none of the parents here even knew the kid. He’s definitely involved.”

Nero sighed and nodded, and Date took that as a sign he won. “Alright. I’m going to go check out the basements, see if they hold the creepy ass things they usually do, and you check out the labs and make sure that there we didn’t miss anything else on this, alright?”

Nero nodded and turned to leave, but Dante felt himself call out, “Be safe.”

A smirk was all that was returned. “Don’t expect too much, old man.”

Dante rolled his eyes and turned down a long flight of steps. Goddamn stairs. Goddamn Nero.

* * *

 

Nero quickly walked off with a brisk pace, ignoring the awkward feeling in his chest that had been laying there since this morning. He had woken up and Dante was gone, in the shower. He didn’t really see anything or heard anything that showed Dante was disgusted with him for the hand holding. Maybe he moved his hand away? That’s probably what happened. Yeah. As long as he could keep his cool around Dante, he should be fine. He’d always been fine before, now shouldn’t be any different at all.

A lab to the right of him was open, and he walked in, seeing all the turned over tables and scratched at chairs. He frowned, looking around to see if there was anything there that could even cause such a response or do such damage. But no, there weren’t even any bodies in this room. Just an examination table, some tools, and a filing cabinet.

Nero made a slow move towards the cabinet and opened it up. He crinkled his nose at the smell; God, these things must have been in there since forever. It smelled like ass in there, and he made sure that it showed on his face. He gingerly picked up a couple of the files, running through them carefully to find some speck of anything. All he saw were a couple photos of kids, maybe the kids that lived in the area? Why would that even be in here? Maybe they were family? Rolling his eyes, he kept going like that for a couple more minutes before throwing the ones he’d skimmed through in the air with a groan.

“There’s nothing here!” He shouted into the air, kicking over the filing cabinet with a grunt of rage. “What am I even supposed to be finding? They’re all kids! They have absolutely nothing to do with anything!” He pulled out his sword and chopped the metal cabinet in half in a show of frustration.

He almost swung down again when something peeked out of the far back of the bottom cabinet. It was a little brown folder, not like the other ones. It was definitely a newer one, with almost nothing in there. He sighed and crouched down to pull it out gently, lest the papers would go everywhere. With a little more of a pull, it slid out and he stood again with a little huff. “Great. What else could this be-“

He stopped breathing.

“Tiresias?”

* * *

 

“Fuck me, this is terrible.” Dante groaned, shuffling around in the dark. He forgot to bring anything that emitted light with him, so he was basically stuck there wandering around like an idiot with his hand to the wall, groping old brick dust and hoping there was a switch somewhere near him that would shed some light on this stupid hallway.

He didn’t know how long ago he had that thought, but when his hand encountered something, he lightened up. “Thank fuck, finally!” His hand smoothed over the switch and he flicked it upward, smiling to himself.

That smile soon dropped.

Dante stood in the middle of what seemed like a large warehouse, cages upon cages stacked high above him until they reached the ceiling. The walkways were covered in blood stained handprints and footprints, and Dante understood why it all smelled like death.

Children. There were children everywhere. Laying on their stomachs, blood pooling around their heads and their chests. In the cages, limp were dangling off the sides as if waiting for someone to reach out and pull them down. Sitting against the wall, heads limp and bodies slumped, as if they had been expecting the once locked door to open to them.

Hundreds of children.

Hundreds of deaths.

Dante stumbled over to the side, feeling himself swirl around with something he’d rather not name and hurled onto the ground, body doubling over and shaking like a leaf. “No…” He managed to get out, eyes flickering wildly about him. Who would do this? WHO?!?

Whoever it was, if they were alive, Dante would make sure they wouldn’t be for long.

He managed to stand up when suddenly, he hears a little cough. His whole back arches up and he whirls around to see something shift behind him. He doesn’t dare raise his weapons; he’s far too shaken to try. He instead just watches as something begin to cough and wheeze and hiccup in the small part of the cage closest to him. He rushes towards the sound and sees snowy hair and frail limbs. Feeling something tear inside of him, he wrenched open the doors of the cage and watched the body shake in fear. He cleared his throat and tried to do what Nero did. “Hey…” His voice was soft, and he made sure his stance was too. “Hey, come here. I’m here to help. I promise.” The head twisted in a shake, and Dante felt himself crumble. “Please.” He whispered, something prickling at his eyes. “Let me help you.”

When he felt something gently tug at his hand, he helped them out and watched in horror as a little boy stood up, leaning heavily on him and watching with fearful eyes. Familiar eyes.

In front of him stood a child version of Nero.

* * *

 

Nero busted out of the lab and looked down at the folder, eyes tearing over the page as if they could process faster than they already could. “Room 3173, 3173….” He turned and squinted at the signs, running faster and faster until he screeched to a stop in front of the room weakly labeled, ‘RESULTS’. He pushed in quickly and nearly gagged on his own breath.

It reeked in here. There were bodies everywhere, and the walls were splattered over with deep reds of greedy men. He pulled his sleeve over his mouth and pushed through until he got to the video room. It was shanty at best, but he didn’t care as he pulled open all the drawers until he found one named, ‘the last subject’. He gently made sure that he placed it into an open computer and watched as it whirred to life.

His breath caught as the video focused in. Tiresias was sitting in the video, watching people in sterile robes flutter around him with bright and giggly eyes, chattering up towards the tall men as his feet swung. His irises weren’t white, they were a deep sea blue, bubbling with curiousity and untold stories of a six (he checked the files) year old boy. This was a little over a year ago. What the hell was Tiresias doing there?

Nero wished he hadn’t even thought about asking that when a man closed in on the camera. “This is subject 1379, first stage completed. The two genetic codes have been combined with no after-effects towards the creature.” Genetic codes? Combined? “ Now we begin study and training for the revival of the Order.” The man turned away, and Nero found himself hating the face of that man so intensely his devil bringer almost crushed the computer before he realized. Sandy brown hair, tired green eyes and an eternal scowl etched onto an unlaughing mouth.

Nero hated him.

But Hate took on a different aspect of rage when Tiresias was held down and a needle was shoved into his arm. His eyes had widened and a scram echoed through the tape, making Nero turn his head away swiftly to avoid looking at the raw fear on such a childish face. On such an innocent face. But he couldn’t hide from screams or from the soft crying and begging for it to all just _stop please stop please_. He gritted his teeth and sped through the video beginning, only watching when it changed to a different video each time. Each and every time Tiresias looked more and more scared and afraid of the men in the white suits. But eventually, fear turned to resignation, and resignation turned into hollowness. The boy took needles like it was nothing, ran through mazes like it was nothing and no longer screaming when the collar around his delicate neck would shock the ever-loving shit out of him. Tiresias wasn’t there anymore by the time the last video came around.

The video when they took his eyesight.

* * *

 

“I-“Dante couldn’t blink.

He couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t think.

“Nero?”

A weak head tilted towards him before gently collapsing onto his hip, shaking and whimpering. Dante quickly but carefully picked him up and held him. This didn’t make sense. It couldn’t make sense. Nero was upstairs. Nero was-

“Who are you?”

Like a bullet to the chest, the wind was knocked out of him and his world was spinning. He looked down and managed to say with a dry throat, “Hey, kiddo. My name’s Dante.”

The kid blinked dully and slowly. He wasn’t going to last long. “Dante? But Dante’s dead.”

The man in question looked at the kid in question. “What?”

With a small point, Dante turned to see another child slumped onto the ground, arms out to the sides. He was missing a leg, and when the hunter pushed his chin up, he nearly stumbled back at the sight of his own face hollowed in and sunken to the bone. He swallowed dryly, eyes wide and brain slowly going into some sort of shock that he could still move about and feel, but not understand. “I-“He stared for a long time and squinted even more before pulling himself away forcibly. “Are…Are these all Dante’s?”

A soft hum and hand squeeze. “Some Neros too. My number is 1289. Hello.” The smile was weak, and Dante felt himself nearly losing his mind at how terrible this all was. He wasn’t-There wasn’t any way to have been prepared for this. For any of this.

The boy coughed, and Dante for the life of him couldn’t stop himself from holding him closer.

It didn’t help when ‘1289’ laughed weakly and whispered, “You’re so warm…” into his ear. No, it only made it worse. “I thought I was going to die alone.”

Dante looked at the little kid, struggling with words of hope when there wasn’t any of the feeling to be found. “We need to give you a real name.” He managed with a dry throat. “One that belongs just to you.” It was the least he could do. Give someone a name.

1289 looked almost confused for a moment, before recognition flitted over his face. “One of the people working here. He had a son.” He trailed off, his eyes dimming quickly. “I think he wanted to name him… Sven.” He closed his eyes and managed a tiny smile. “I liked that name.”

“Sven.” Fuck, he couldn’t do this. “Sven, listen to me. You’re-You’re not gonna stay here long. I’ll get you out.” No he won’t. “I can get you someplace so much nicer.” He can’t. “All you need to do is sleep. I’ll get you there.” Sleep.

All of Dante’s sleep now, however, will be far, far away.

Sven warmed in his arms and gently nodded, clutching his jacket tight with crimson cracked hands. “Okay. I’ll see you later, Dante. Make sure to wake me up when we get there, okay?”

Dante watched as the little boy’s chest slowly stopped moving. “Okay. See you soon.”

* * *

 

Nero couldn’t do it.

“Let me go!”

He can’t watch this anymore.

“PLEASE!”

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I won’t do anything wrong!”

Bloodcurdling screams ricocheted through the screen and loud crying for mercy echoed through his head as the scientists put some strange type of goggles over blue eyes filled with tears and turned on a machine. The screaming got louder and louder and louder and Nero clutched his ears tightly, feeling his own heart explode into a million pieces, so far away and so broken for this little boy who was literally having his eyesight burned away.

It was only a couple minutes later when the whole thing stopped, and the goggles taken off. Nero didn’t look at the aftermath. He couldn’t. But he could hear the sudden amount of shouting and screaming, both not belonging to Tiresias, but the scientists.

Suddenly the video stopped.

And everything was no more.

* * *

Dante wasn’t expecting to see Nero on the floor near the entrance, curled up into a little ball and clutching his head as if his life depended on it. He wasn’t holding Sven anymore; he had taken him and buried him in one of the little gardens in the back of the building. It was nice, it was quiet. Like a place where a little kid could sleep.

“Nero.”

The mass jolted, and the sounds clearly gave away the brittle tears of a hunter too young to see anything as the like of this. He hadn’t been ready, and frankly, neither had Dante.

But it was too late now. For both of them.

Dante gently put down his weapons and gathered Nero into a hug, rubbing his back and ignoring the salt lines on his own face as he furiously rubbed at them. Nero clung to him hard, and muffled the sounds of heartbreak rattling in his ribs and chest.

They sat there for a while, neither caring for the time until Nero raised his head and said in a hoarse voice, “I know who Tiresias is.”

Dante looked down at the red eyed boy sitting next to him and gently clung back, as if trying to keep him from flying apart. “What is he?”

“An experiment.” Ah. “A fucking kid. They burned him and hurt him and trained him and-“He choked down some vomit and looked away. “They took his sight away. And he killed them all. Blood rage.” Dante tensed and looked down as well.

“That’s not all.”

His head lifted, and Nero was staring at the ceiling.

“He’s a genetic combination of the both of us.”

“What?”

Nero growled into Dante’s shoulder, wishing this had never happened. That nobody ever even thought of what they did. He gripped tighter to Dante and managed out in a hoarse whisper that seemingly echoed in the vast hallway. “Tiresias is our kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TIRESIAS WILL GET SO MUCH LOVE FROM EVERYONE
> 
> SVEN MY PRECIOUS CHILD  
> sleep well


	4. What's a Proper Family?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dante doesn't know what a proper family is.  
> Nero does, but it isn't quite what you would originally think.

Lady and Trish stared at the two men across from them slumping on the desk quietly. It was well past one o’clock, and the pair had just returned from a long and tense drive, disbelieving of all the information they had and the things they had seen. Nero had even brought the videos, if only to destroy them after the inevitable request to see them.

Nero had left the room, Lady soon after him did the same.

It was solemn and dark in the building after words, Tiresias deep asleep upstairs in Nero’s bed (Trish said that he found his way there by himself, making Nero let out a dry laugh before rushing into the kitchen for a drink). And after a long lull in the conversation, Lady finally spoke up with a hoarse voice and quietly red eyes. “So what do we do now? We can’t just throw him out. I won’t stand for it.”

Dante was staring down at the ground, and when he looked up he was devoid of all his humour and laughter, and he was 100% serious. “I don’t see how we _can_ keep him, Lady. None of us are really suited to be parents, and how would we even get to the point of being comfortable about where he came from? What he’s been through? He would need a proper family. A real one that isn’t full of demon hunters and blood curses but warm dinners and playgrounds and hugs and kisses and a real _proper_ family.” He looked at Nero, whose eyes were wide with disbelief. “We can’t provide him that.”

The silence was deafening for a long time until Nero rushed forward, grabbed Dante by the arm and dragged him outside, face hidden by his bangs and the silky covers of night. His grip was unforgiving and by the time they were both out of the door Dante’s arm was bleeding because of how deep the devil bringer was digging into his skin. Nero swung the elder around to face him and slammed him into the wall, punching him in the face with his bringer. When the elder looked too shocked to say anything, he did it again. And again. And again and again until Dante finally had the presence of mind to grab his arm before he had the chance to do it again and manage to shout, “What the hell, kid?!? What’s with you?!?!?”

“Don’t you dare say anymore shit about a proper fucking family.” Was the hiccuped and strained response. It took a while for the first demon hunter to realize that Nero was struggling to keep his shit together. His eyes were narrowed and dark, and his teeth were clenched so tightly it looked ready to break as he tried to take deep breaths. Hell, even his devil bringer was trembling and glowing in pulses, like it was his heart about to explode out of his chest. “Not a single fucking word. If you do I’ll kill you again.” And by the sound of it, The kid wasn’t joking. His voice was on edge and so was his mind. It had already been pushed too hard too fast and it was starting to show its toll on his brain. Dante tried to speak up but he was shoved back into the brick of the building.

“You don’t need a proper fucking family to grow up and be happy. You don’t need to have a mom and a dad. I didn’t.” He continued on, mouth working a mile a minute and his brain a blank slate. “I had no dad. He left. My mom while we were still near was a stripper who worked hard to keep me happy when I was small. I was happy. I had a stripper for a mom and I was happy. I had no dad and I was happy. “ He gestures back to the dimly lit building. “Tiresias. He won’t have a mother figure. He’ll have two. He won’t have a father figure. He’ll have two. He’ll have a consistent roof over his head and meals that I _will_ make sure he eats. I’ll take twice as many jobs, I’ll do twice as much but Dante _don’t you FUCKING DARE TELL ME THAT HE NEEDS A PROPER FAMILY BECAUSE THAT’S BULLSHIT.”_ His hand was trembling violently and his breath was wet from crying and shouting and he was bent over like he was a dying man, and in a way he was. He was at his breaking point. _“_ Don’t TELL me that he needs a proper family because if he has us, that’s a proper family. And if-“ He sniffs and stands up to his full height, sapphire hues still full of angry tears as he jolts Dante slightly. “If you try to get rid of him, I’m going to take care of him myself. Because people who love you and stick with you, _that’s_ a proper family."

He ripped his hand away and rubbed at his own face angrily, trying to get it together. Suddenly a hand was on his neck and he yelped as he was yanked forward into Dante, who had been silent the entire time Nero had spoken. They crushed into each other and Dante hugged him tight and firmly, as if letting go would be the worst choice he could possibly make. Nero thrashed in the beginning, yelling obscenities like “GET OFF ME FUCK FACE!” and “LET ME GO!” and when Dante still refused, he slowly let his anger and adrenaline drain to simply leave him there in Dante’s arms sad and exhausted. At the quiet snoring and slow breathing, Dante gently picked Nero up and carried him back inside to where Lady and Trish were sitting on the couch and watching them with tired smile (and grimace from Trish).

When Dante passed them, he turned and asked softly, “You hear that?”

“Every word.” Trish hummed, crossing her legs over Lady’s lap and watching him with calculating eyes before grinning slightly. “I decide I call dibs on Mama Trish, and the little squirt can call her-“she blows a kiss at her girlfriend, “-Miss Lady. I thought it was cute, you know?”

Dante furrowed his brow. “We didn’t even make a decision yet, Lady.”

She hummed. “Yes you did.”

“When?”

“When you hugged Nero. That’s exactly when.”

Lady spoke up. “I will help as much as I can with Tiresias. I will admit I have grown… quite attached to him. As if he was my little brother.”

“Yeah, and we can be okay parents. It’ll be you who has to cut back on the drinking.” Trish teased.

Dante sighed and turned away, trudging upstairs and into Nero’s room. It was dark and he almost turned on the light when he remembered that Tiresias was asleep in there. He gently slowed his movements and felt around the bed until his fingers connected with soft curls. He almost recoiled as flashbacks of Sven assaulted his mind. The quiet smiles and gentle words, how his eyes dimmed into nothing.

How easily he was ready to die.

He shook himself out of it and gently rested Nero on the bed, watching in slight surprise and fondness as Tiresias seemed to migrate towards the gentle breathing and warmth. Soon they were cuddled close together, and Dante couldn’t deny the feelings that he had experienced for the second time that week, watching the two of them sleeping peacefully together. Now he saw the similarities between the three of them, and he quietly turned his head away as his ears began to warm.

Shit. So that’s what it was.

He had feelings for Nero.

He shook his head and looked away at the window before down at the unfortunate object of his possessions, sleeping off the outburst outside the shop. Dante leaned down to wipe off remnants of tears from a pale cheek and ended up pressing his lips softly to Nero’s eyelid and pulling away quickly, shocked at his own lack of self-control. Honestly. Nero was asleep. No consent. Disgusted with himself he pulled away and left the room, heading to his room and collapsing onto his bed, dozing off quickly after that.

* * *

_“What’s your name?”_

_“I don’t have one.”_

_“Well you can pick one, can’t you?”_

_“I heard one of the doctors naming their son Sven.”_

_“Do you like it?”_

_“Yes, but it doesn’t really matter now, does it?”_

_“What? What do you mean by that, Sven?”_

_“I’m dead. I’m not Sven, I’m just a body amongst a graveyard. Your own graveyard of deaths you’re responsible for. Right, Dante?”_

_“I-“_

_“And Soon Nero will be dead and gone with me. Tiresias too, huh?”_

_“No. I don’t- I can’t-“_

_“People die just being associated with you, Dante. All those kids. Every single one.”_

_“NO.”_

_“They’re all on you.”_

_“S T O P”_

_“And soon Nero will be next”_

The world snapped into focus when a small weight flopped onto Dante, still dressed in the previous evening’s outfit. The demon hunter snapped forward and almost flung Tiresias clear out the window if the little kid didn’t hold on tight. But luckily he did not make a window exit, just looked extremely ruffled and hiccupping in his strange little laughter of ways.

“Holy shit, kid.” Dante managed to say slightly incoherently before pulling the little tyke up and onto the side of the bed as he pulled off his own jacket. “You scared the shit right out of me, you know that?” The kid in question pushed back into his lap and hugged a still slightly asleep Dante, who simply gave up a losing battle and hugged the kid tight, nightmares still shaking him badly.

“Tiresias!” A voice shouted. “Get back here, it’s time for breakfast!” Dante belatedly realized that the voice belonged to Nero as another voice (No doubt Trish) was heard cussing out a toaster and being chastised by another voice (Lady). When the teen bursted into the room, Dante released Tiresias but was not released himself from the seven year old’s clutches. Nero looked at the two of them awkwardly before saying with a soft murmur, “Would you like some breakfast?”

Dante blinked a couple of times before realizing that Nero was talking to him. “Oh. Uh. Yeah. Sounds good kid.” He stood up and watched as Tiresias dangled from his shirt and silently laughed like a monkey, making Dante’s eyes crinkle into a slight smile and wrap his arms around the child to keep him aloft. “Has he eaten yet?”

“No, he ran right out as soon as I started putting eggs on plates.” Nero sounded surprised at the sudden change of Dante’s behaviour, but didn’t comment on it as he turned to head to the kitchen only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder. “What, Dante.”

“I don’t want you to leave.” Dante’s statement was met only with silence, so he kept going. “I don’t want Tiresias to leave either.” At that, Nero turned in shock and disbelief, eyes wide. “You were right. The only proper family he needs is right here.” He pointed at Nero and then back at himself. “Two dads.” He pointed at the stairs where the girls were bickering. “Two mums. Nothing better.” He managed a tired little smile. “So are we still… Are we okay?”

Nero watched him for a little bit before smiling back at him, the first real genuine smile Dante had seen since The Order was destroyed and Nero showed up on his doorstep. “Yeah, old man. We’re okay.” He pulled away, not really sure what to do after that and looked down quietly, smile still lingering. “Well, brekkie’s almost done, and Trish and lady should almost be done with the toaster. It broke, so they’re trying to fix it.”

“Trish might have destroyed it instead.” Dante relaxed and chuckled, shaking his head. “And it sounds like a great idea. I’ll have to come down after showering, okay?”

Nero wrinkled his nose and laughed softly. “Yeah. You kind of stink.”

“Don’t push it, kid.”

“Don’t have a heart attack, old man.”

Dante hummed softly and passed off a beaming Tiresias, to which he ruffled white curls to hear a quiet hiccup once more before he turned to the showers.

Proper family indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like this chapter needed some happiness.  
> Sorry my updats haven't been weekly. I'll try to remember it better. It may or may not be more random. 
> 
> Please leave some comments!

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically completed, but I will be making one shots about this. Requests are appreciated, and please don't hesitate to rate and comment!   
> -Seth


End file.
